Pitch
Pitch is the term for the position of a tone in the musical scale.
Pitch can be either relative or absolute. The relative pitch of
a tone is its position, higher or lower, as compared to another tone.
Its absolute pitch is its fixed position in the entire range of musical
tones.
The number of vibrations made by a tone establishes its absolute pitch.
In the United States, the standard of pitch is a=440.
The pitches used in western music have become standardized over time
into the family known as the chromatic scale. The standard
chromatic scale has been the tempered scale of 12 tones since the middle
of the eighteenth century. Scale is the term for the total
available pitch material for making music. Tempered means that successive
tones in the scale differ in frequency by a fixed ratio.
The staff and clefs together set the pitch of the notes.
To name the notes of a scale, we use the first seven letters of the alphabet,
A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Tonal music is based on, but not restricted to, the scale of seven pitches
called the diatonic scale. The seven pitches are called degrees of
the scale. They are numbered with roman numerals I thru VII,
regardless of the key. The scale of a key is determined by
the pitch of the first degree, the tonic.
The scale degrees are referred to by the following names:
- I - Tonic
- II - Supertonic
- III - Mediant
- IV - Subdominant
- V - Dominant
- VI - Submediant
- VII - Called Leading-tone when half-step below the tonic; Called
Minor Seventh Degree or Subtonic when whole step below tonic.
Chromatic signs are set before notes to raise and lower their pitch (in
notation).
The distance between any two pitches is called an interval. The
names refer to the number of diatonic scale notes between them.
The specific name of the interval may be found by comparing the interval
to a major scale constructed upon the lower of the two notes as the tonic.
If the upper note is a note in the scale, then the interval is major, except
in the case of octaves, fifths, fourths, and unisons, when it’s called
perfect.
If the upper note is not a note in the scale, then:
- A major interval made a half-tone smaller becomes minor.
Conversely, a minor interval made a half-tone higher becomes major.
- A major or perfect interval made a half-tone larger becomes
augmented.
- A minor or perfect interval made a half-tone smaller becomes
diminished.
In harmonic inversion of intervals equal to or smaller than an octave,
the lower pitch is moved up an octave, or the upper pitch is moved down
an octave.
- Unisons become octaves, and vice versa.
- Seconds become sevenths, and vice versa.
- Thirds become sixths, and vice versa.
- Fourths become fifths, and vice versa.
- Major intervals become minor, and vice versa.
- Augmented intervals become diminished, and vice versa.
- Perfect intervals remain perfect.
Enharmonic intervals sound alike when played, but are widely different
in their meaning. These intervals are specified in these ways for
purposes that make sense in their harmonic context.
Notes that are enharmonically equivalent belong to the same pitch-class,
along with the pitches that are related as perfect octaves. For example,
the pitch-class C includes all C’s, B sharps, and D double-flats.
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